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Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

By

Published on November 11, 2011

Time

1½ hours, plus 30 minutes chilling

Yield

Serves 8

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients

Topping

6 tablespoons unsalted butter3 cups fresh or defrosted frozen cranberries¾ cup (5¼ ounces/149 grams) sugar2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake

1 cup (5 ounces/142 grams) all-purpose flour¼ cup blanched slivered almonds1 teaspoon baking powder¼ teaspoon salt½ cup milk½ teaspoon vanilla extract½ teaspoon almond extract6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened¾ cup (5¼ ounces/149 grams) sugar3 large eggs, separated

Instructions

  1. For the topping: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9-inch round cake pan, line with parchment paper round, and spray with cooking spray. Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add cranberries, sugar, and jam and cook until cranberries are just softened, about 4 minutes. Strain cranberry mixture over bowl, reserving juices.
  2. Add strained juices to empty skillet and simmer over medium heat until syrupy and reduced to 1 cup, about 4 minutes. Off heat, stir in vanilla. Arrange strained berries in single layer in prepared pan. Pour juice mixture over berries and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  3. For the cake: Process almonds and 1/4 cup flour in food processor until finely ground. Add remaining flour, baking powder, and salt and pulse to combine. Whisk milk and extracts in measuring cup. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, until combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of milk mixture.
  4. Using clean bowl and beaters, beat egg whites on medium-high speed until they hold soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Whisk one-third of whites into batter, then fold in remaining whites. Pour batter over chilled cranberry mixture and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes, then run paring knife around cake and invert onto serving plate. Serve.
Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

4.5(35)
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Time

1½ hours, plus 30 minutes chilling

Yield

Serves 8

Ingredients

Ingredient check listTopping
Ingredient check listCake

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

Ingredient check listTopping
Ingredient check listCake

Test Kitchen Techniques

Ingredients

Ingredient check listTopping
Ingredient check listCake

Test Kitchen Techniques

Why This Recipe Works

This ruby-crowned cake is a visual stunner, with a delicate balance of sweet-tart cranberry topping and tender butter cake. But as with all upside-down cakes, the inverted preparation in this upside-down cake recipe can easily spell disaster. We needed a cake that was sturdy enough to support the fruit, and a topping that wouldn’t soak the cake or harden and stick to the bottom of the pan. Folding fluffy beaten egg whites into our prepared batter produced a light and tender cake that was still sturdy enough to support the heavy fruit topping in our recipe. Precooking the cranberries and sugar on the stovetop evaporated some of the fruit’s moisture and kept the topping from being runny. Cutting back on the amount of sugar helped keep our Cranberry Upside-Down Cake’s topping from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Instructions

  1. For the topping: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9-inch round cake pan, line with parchment paper round, and spray with cooking spray. Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add cranberries, sugar, and jam and cook until cranberries are just softened, about 4 minutes. Strain cranberry mixture over bowl, reserving juices.
  2. Add strained juices to empty skillet and simmer over medium heat until syrupy and reduced to 1 cup, about 4 minutes. Off heat, stir in vanilla. Arrange strained berries in single layer in prepared pan. Pour juice mixture over berries and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  3. For the cake: Process almonds and 1/4 cup flour in food processor until finely ground. Add remaining flour, baking powder, and salt and pulse to combine. Whisk milk and extracts in measuring cup. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, until combined. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of milk mixture.
  4. Using clean bowl and beaters, beat egg whites on medium-high speed until they hold soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Whisk one-third of whites into batter, then fold in remaining whites. Pour batter over chilled cranberry mixture and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes, then run paring knife around cake and invert onto serving plate. Serve.
  5. 5.Enjoy!
    Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

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